At this moment, Sunday had no choice but to force himself to ignore Nero's highly aggressive words so that he could continue telling the story he wanted to tell.
When you expect to discuss ideals and ambitions with someone who completely does not care about your long-term plans, this is the kind of situation that happens.
What makes it even more painful than usual is that even you yourself have no choice but to believe and acknowledge that the other person's words used to refute or even attack you might actually be right.
"He was a dream chaser, and also an illegal stowaway. Like everyone else, he came to Penacony with a longing for a better life. It's just that the price he paid was, even for a criminal... enough to be called giving up everything."
"He told me that he had sold everything in his family that could be sold, his house, his land, and even his two children... He said he was unable to raise them, and that at least as a slave, he could have enough to eat."
"He had also made a plan. Once he made his fortune, he would redeem his children and share Penacony's beautiful dream with them. Unfortunately, his smuggling plan was somewhat clumsy, and those stubborn Hounds caught his scent."
"After hearing this dream chaser's story, I immediately requested that the Hound Family stop pursuing him, so that he could live in peace."
"Unfortunately, my vision was too narrow. I never thought that what I believed to be an act of kindness would brew bitter consequences in the future..."
"The answer will be revealed later. For now, I hope everyone will make a choice."
"Will you make the same decision as I did, persuade the Hound Family to stop searching, so that the dream chaser can survive and achieve his wish?"
"Or will you remain silent, letting him struggle to survive under the Hounds' pursuit until the inevitable judgment arrives?"
"I look forward to your choices. Perhaps they may even twist that tragedy into something else."
"Hmm..." Stelle put on a thoughtful expression, then looked toward her companions. Clearly, just like before, she hoped her companions would share their thoughts. After all, Nero was handling the matter of dealing with Sunday's output.
March thought for a moment and said, "Looks like stowaways really are common in Penacony... But as for this guy in the story, I don't think he deserves any sympathy at all."
July nodded beside her. "Me neither. He even sold his children just to chase his dream... Even if he planned to redeem them, that's way too irresponsible. And what if even his plan to redeem them was a lie?"
"So there's only one choice." March continued, "Have the Hound Family send him back! This guy definitely needs to be punished!"
After hearing her, Stelle looked toward Himeko. The latter thought for a moment before saying, "A dream chaser's story... Out of goodwill, I think I would request that the Hound Family stop pursuing him and give him a hand."
"But what kind of bitter consequences would this choice eventually bring? I think Sunday must have gained a deep understanding of the limitations of using the strong to help the weak through this."
This time, everyone's choices began to differ.
Stelle looked toward Firefly. As before, Firefly's thoughts were not completely from Sunday's perspective. Like Nero, she leaned more toward analyzing the environment everyone was currently in and Sunday's purpose.
The difference was that Nero's thoughts never took Sunday into consideration at all. He only said what he would do, what he wanted to do, and what he thought should be done, then used a single sentence about how something that had already happened could not be changed to smash all his previous arguments to pieces.
As for the enlightenment gained through reflection, whether you understood it or not, what you understood from it, what does that have to do with me? You aren't me. Your thoughts aren't my thoughts, and the conclusion you reach isn't my conclusion either.
As for Firefly, more or less, she would seriously put herself into the situation and consider the question Sunday had raised, "This story... has some inherent connection with the story of the fledgling, and that connection is the breakthrough Sunday wants to use to persuade us..."
Firefly carefully chose her words as she said this to Stelle, then glanced at Nero.
Although she felt that Sunday would use the connection between the stories to find a way to persuade everyone, with this child here, she felt that no matter how brilliantly Sunday spoke, no matter how much he talked, even if his tongue blistered and his lips cracked, it would still be difficult to reach the ending he hoped for.
After all, just from the careless expression on this child's face while listening to the story, it was obvious that he was someone with plenty of ideas of his own.
Firefly sighed. For some reason, she suddenly felt a little sympathy for Sunday. Only then did she say, "As for the choice, I think I would choose to request that the Hound Family stop pursuing him."
Stelle nodded. As for herself, she chose to let that person be punished.
As a key representative of the group, of course she also upheld the idea that those who did bad things should be punished, just as Nero often said, if you make a mistake, you have to take the beating, and if you take the beating, you have to stand straight.
However, she still wanted to hear Nero's opinion, so she looked at him and asked as she had the last time, "Nero, what do you think?"
"Ha! Of course I'd generously give this person a job, and advance him part of his wages so he could redeem his children first."
Nero said with a smile, but his tone did not seem as warm as his words. After all, most of the people present knew what A-ha's Rift Factory was like.
Nero was of course very kind. It was just that, for some people, his kindness was something they simply could not afford.
Stelle smiled. Sure enough, Nero still would not let the stowaway in Sunday's story off the hook.
Then she heard Nero say, "Also, if I were Sunday brother back then, I would do this. I'd directly have the enemies from the Hound Family capture him on the spot, and then interrogate him."
"He's one person, and he's already desperate to this extent. There are so many places where he could find a stable job, but he just had to come to Penacony, a place where every inch of land is worth its weight in gold, where people are lost in luxury, where you earn more but spend even more. There's something seriously wrong with that behavior itself, okay?"
"Of course, finding a job is also a problem, but the universe is so big. It's not like he can't find one. Before opening the factory, I had Sister Topaz do a survey for me."
"At present, the known job positions in the universe are still far from reaching the point of saturation."
"If he went to a company branch and peacefully spent a few years doing odd jobs like moving things around, he could probably bring his children back. It'd be a little tiring, though... but it would definitely be easier than working at my factory."
"Anyway, he absolutely has to be thoroughly interrogated. As for his two children, I have status, standing, and ability, so couldn't I just redeem them directly? If that really didn't work, I could just adopt them like the Dream Master did back then."
"When everything is guaranteed and you still have a heart that wants to do good, what else is there to consider? Think about it from another angle. What genuinely good person would demand repayment or calculate gains and losses?"
"Of course, accepting repayment for doing good is only natural. But not asking for repayment, or rather, acting before even thinking about whether there will be any repayment, that is the most original form of a good deed, isn't it?"
"Of course, Sunday brother, I'm not saying you're calculating. I just want to say what I mentioned before. You have more room for subjective initiative."
"You can do far more than you think you can. But your reflection this time is at least a little more on point. You've made some progress~"
Sunday: "..."
Right now, he truly, extremely, did not want to talk to Nero.
Because this child's words were simply too sharp. Every sentence felt like a knife capable of leaving a wound on him.
As for refuting him, Sunday could of course think of things to say. But... just as Nero had said before, once he presented a choice, he had already prepared the words to refute it in his mind. And Nero, who had directly pointed this out, surely wouldn't do the same thing?
His instincts told Sunday that if he really did refute him, he would probably receive an even stronger verbal attack.
Actually, if it were just a normal debate, it would be fine. But there always seemed to be some aggression in Nero's words, an aggression that seemed determined to tear him down completely.
When ordinary people debated, they only refuted your point of view.
But this child, he might not refute your point of view, but he would definitely attack you as a person without using a single dirty word.
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